This year’s graduation speaker for NC State was San Diego Charger quarterback, Philip Rivers. As a Raleigh native and NCSU alum, I love the Wolfpack sports and have followed Rivers since his freshman year at State.

Rivers spoke on defining your priorities in life and going hard after them. He obviously talked about football as it is how he is known, but he also listed his other 2 priorities for his life: faith and family. His talk on family was passionate and was a role model he received from his parents and his own prioritization of his 6 children.

The one characteristic the Rivers carries most is passion. He goes hard after what he wants. If it is a priority, then you have to put passion in ti. I think his formula is a recipe for success in any arena as you keep it in the right order. Excellence will get you far, but if it is at the expense of the other two it will be empty.

Faith, Family, Your Personal Passion

One way Rivers walks out his faith is his Rivers of Hope Foundation with the mission to help unwanted, abandoned and orphaned children find permanent loving homes. They pray that these children may find their own sense of self-worth and that future and current parents be open to life regardless of the situation.